News / Press
Kingspan Plays The Regeneration Game
21 Nov 2007
Part of the ambitious £75 million regeneration of Beswick in East Manchester, an impressive new build residential project, is nearly complete. The 60 private apartments, constructed using steel framing sections from Kingspan Off-Site, are part of the largest off-site manufactured housing development in the UK which is being undertaken by urban regeneration company New East Manchester and regeneration specialist Lovell.
Two five-storey apartment blocks feature a modern, innovative design, topped by penthouses which posed the biggest challenge to developer Lovell and installer Cadman Group. Designed by architect Bowker Sadler to provide a striking complement to each building, the penthouses needed Kingspan’s technical team to design special steel plates to help ensure the integrity of the structure.
Kingspan Steel Framing Sections, also known as “stud and track”, were specified by Lovell for the majority of the elevations. This ensured that the buildings could be closed off as quickly and efficiently as possible so following trades could start fitting out the interior whilst the exterior render, terracotta tile and cedar finishes were applied.
Kingspan reduces the installer’s workload by pre-cutting the frame sections to length at the manufacturing stage. The sections are product marked according to the installer’s plans, then bundled and strapped together for delivery to site. This provides significant on-site time savings as sections arrive in the right sequence to enable immediate installation. Kingspan’s free software (Stick-Kit) can print construction drawings for use on-site, with clearly marked stud and track sections which correspond to the factory-applied markings.
